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David Warner blasts umpires and England players

Australia accused England of time-wasting as their hopes of staging an an Ashes comeback looked to have been scuppered by the Manchester weather.

Manchester: Australia batsman David Warner launched a scathing attack on the umpires and England's time-wasting tactics on the fourth day of the third Ashes Test in Manchester, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Australia accused England of time-wasting as their hopes of staging an astonishing Ashes comeback looked to have been scuppered by the Manchester weather.

Captain Michael Clarke was unhappy when the umpires took the players off for bad light two hours early, before David Warner - playing in his first Test since his ban for punching Joe Root - commented on England's tardy over-rate.

More bad weather on Monday would guarantee England a draw in this third Test and the retention of the urn.

"We knew the bowlers would take their time," said Warner. "They reviewed one off me that was a massive time-waster, because they walked in a circle and said 'Let's just hold it back a little bit'."

With Australia extending their lead to 331 and hoping to bowl at England on the fourth day, Clarke - 30 not out at the close - was involved in an animated chat with umpires Tony Hill and Marais Erasmus after they decided the fading light threatened the batsmen.

"Obviously Michael was a little bit annoyed by that," said Warner. "He felt it didn't change much in that last half-hour, but the umpires seemed to say it did."

The batsman added: "We'd have liked to put more runs on the board and then have a crack but at some stage on Monday, we'll do that.

"That's what happens these days, the umpires make the (bad light) decision and (Alastair Cook) clearly didn't want to bowl the spinners any more.

"I think we would've kept batting, Michael (Clarke) was out there so he would decide what to do."

But England wicketkeeper Matt Prior defended the umpires' decision and his side's tactics. "We controlled our over-rate; at no point did we want to be taking it too far," Prior said.

"I don't think we bowled too slowly, but we were not going to be racing through our overs trying to get as many in as possible. It's a balancing act. We're more than happy if it rains the whole of the last day."